JPEG fading and Sensor size

Most people are surprised to discover that JPG photos have such a short
shelf life. You can slow the process down somewhat by re-copying them
every three months, but eventually they will fade to almost nothing
anyway.

This deterioration is caused by UV rays and magnetic fields emanating
from your computer monitor and other peripherals -- even your disk
drive -- and cosmic rays coming from the sun.

Think of the constant bombardment of your storage media as a kind of
rain. Obviously, larger media such as DVDs and 5.25 inch floppy disks
will be struck by cosmic rays, UV, and other particles much more
frequently than smaller forms of media. Each particle can irrecoverably
destroy some of your data. Back in the old days when disk drives were
12 inch platters (or even larger), data often did not last more than a
few weeks! You should therefore store your most important photos on
storage devices that are as small as possible, and use only one device
at a time, since putting your data on two different drives more than
doubles the risk that your data will be damaged.

Compressing the JPEG file as much as possible will also reduce the
damage done by cosmic rays and UV light.

Another problem with large storage devices also applies to camera
sensors. A larger storage device or camera sensor must have the data
"stretched" over a larger area, creating holes in your pictures. This
is why photos taken with the Canon 5D appear thin and faded compared to
pictures taken with a cell phone. The cell phone has a smaller sensor
and is able to concentrate the picture better. The most advanced
cameras all have smaller sensors for this reason, while primitive DSLRS
must continue to have large sensors in order remain backwards
compatible with lenses and other accessories. Some camera manufacturers
have attempted to load the larger sensors up with more pixels in an
attempt to fill the quantum holes created by stretching the picture too

thinly, but it is obvious that the quantum limits on number of pixels
that can be placed on a large sensor has been surpassed. This is also
why manufacturers of DSLRS tend to use inexpensive CF memory instead of
smaller SD cards. After all, even though the CF card is larger, it does

not appreciably thin out the picture more than it already comes from
the sensor. The Nikon D50 does use SD cards, which accounts for why its
pictures are brighter and sharper than those taken with the nearly
identical D70.

Placing an already too thin picture from a Canon 5D on a giant CD-ROM
will almost guarantee very rapid fading and loss of sharpness. It is
the worst of both worlds.

JPEG quality is also affected by picture size. Obviously, a photo that
has fewer pixels will concentrate the data more and store it in a
smaller area, leaving it less vulnerable to deterioration.

So, if you want JPEG pictures that last a long time, follow these
simple rules:

1) Use a pocket camera with a tiny sensor.
2) Use the highest compression possible.
3) Use the smallest picture size available for your camera.
4) Store it on the smallest memory card available.
5) Make sure there is only one copy.

.

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